UPDATE: Police standoff ends in arrest

• Police standoff

Police standoff

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What began as an “apprehension request” resulting from an alleged probation violation ended with an emergency response team forcing its way into a River Falls apartment after the occupant barricaded himself inside.

River Falls Police Investigator Chuck Golden said the standoff began around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 21, at 1169 Bartosh Lane, #3, and ended around 2:30 p.m. He said police made verbal contact with Craig Allen Hollenbeck, 44, who refused to come out. Police set up a safe perimeter outside the apartment as a precaution.

Officers continued trying to coax the man out while watching the apartment. He did not threaten police or brandish a weapon, but he had placed heavy items in front of the door.

Golden says after several unsuccessful attempts, “We called the ERU to come in and make entry.”

The ERU is an Emergency Response Unit, much like a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team. Golden said the team was briefed and, as is standard procedure, members donned bulletproof vests and approached the apartment with guns drawn.

While the investigator calls the entry “dynamic” because of the barricade, he said the ERU entered the home and took Hollenbeck into custody “without incident” and according to the apprehension request.

Golden declined to disclose any details about Hollenbeck’s probation or where he was held after being taken into custody. Online court records show he pleaded guilty in Pierce County during August 2011 to charges of resisting or obstructing an officer and failing to stop. The records show that on Jan. 30, 2012, he was placed on probation for a year.

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